Healthcare-associated infections “in hospitals are a significant cause or morbidity and mortality in the United States.” R. Monina Klevens, et al., Estimating Health Care-Associated Infections and Deaths in U.S. Hospitals, 2002, Public Health Reports, 160-166 (March-April 2007). According to a study conducted by researchers at the CDC, Emory University School of Medicine, the Atlanta VA Medical Center, and the Atlanta VA Health Services Research and Development Center, during a one year period approximately 1.7 million people were infected by healthcare-associated infections in American hospitals, and slightly less than 100,000 of those infected died as a result. Id. (citing data from a study of the 2002 calendar year). These infections may be spread by, inter alia, hospital bedclothes and doctor clothing, such as scrubs.
One traditional approach to preventing the spread of healthcare-associated infections in hospitals is to treat fabrics used in hospitals with antimicrobial chemicals. Typically, these traditional treatments use silver salt antimicrobials to poison cell walls, DNA, and/or enzymes comprising the infectious agent.
These traditionally treated fabrics, however, suffer from numerous drawbacks. First, due to the process used to treat the substrates, the antimicrobial chemicals are applied in an uneven coating that wears off after a relatively low number of washes, thus greatly diminishing the effectiveness in preventing the spread of infectious agents. Second, because traditionally treated fabrics work by poisoning infectious agents, it is possible for the agents to develop resistance to the treatment. This results in the creation of a more dangerous infectious agent than the one originally targeted for destruction. Third, the silver salt antimicrobials used in traditional treatments require a substantial amount of contact time with an infectious agent to be effective in destroying the same. Fourth, traditional treatments may be easily neutralized by substances such as chlorine (which is commonly found in disinfectants such as bleach). This may result in the treatment losing its effectiveness to prevent infection from dangerous agents. Fifth, the silver salt antimicrobials have a tendency to leach into their surroundings. This may increase environmental risks, as well as health risks for the person coming in contact with the same. Further, traditional treatments are not always effective against the so-called “superbugs,” i.e. resistant infectious agents such as, for example, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
There is a significant need for an improved treatment for fabric and other substrates used in the medical field to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections. There is further a need for such treatment to destroy infectious agents without risk of increasing resistance or creating resistant agents. There is also a need for treatment to destroy dangerous resistant infectious agents that would not be destroyed with traditional treatments.